Scarface: Steelbook – Blu-ray/DVD Combo Edition

Hey! I did not know that the screenplay to “Scarface” was written by Oliver Stone (Evita, Natural Born Killers). You learn something new every day they say! Stone’s screenplay has given birth to many often quoted lines, including such gems as “Say hello to my little friend” and “I bury those cockroaches”. This epic rags to riches hood tale has been seen by most of the planet in the 23 years since director Brian De Palma (Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables) first brought it to the screen. It is especially a favourite with young males who revel in its blood, guns, violence, and over-the-top operatic gangster ways.

The film made stars of Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Pacino is perfect in the role of Tony Montana. He brings his lust for power and his indifference to violence to the screen in all its warped glory. De Palma does a great job depicting Montana’s life and the inner workings of his warped brain to the viewer. The film is unapologetic in its over-the-topness, but that is part of its appeal. No one really believes that what goes on in the film could ever really occur, yet we are still entertained by the craziness of it. It is satire pure and simple, but the best kind. The film is shocking, controversial, sometimes funny, and gory but one of the essential watches of 80s films.

Tony Montana (Al Pacino – Heat, The Godfather) comes from Cuba to the United States (more specifically Miami) during the time when Castro allowed one port to be opened. Of the 125,000 Cubans that came to America roughly 25,000 were criminals. Montana has big dreams for himself; he has not come to America to be a nobody. He also wants to reach the top fast and this means not the legal way.

Right away in Freedomtown, where all the Cubans are being held, he murders a Communist in a job for drug Cartel boss Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia – Independence Day, Big). Montana and Manny (Steven Bauer – Traffic, Primal Fear) begin working at a taco stand, but Manny sets them up with a guy named Omar (F. Murray Abraham – Amadeus, Finding Forrester), who gives them a job picking up cocaine from Columbians. The Columbians try to ambush Tony and he kills them all and gets the cocaine and the money. Lopez tells Montana that if he is loyal he will move up quickly.

This is music to Montana’s ears. He wants everything that Lopez has, power, money and his beautiful girlfriend, Elvira (Michelle Pfeiffer – Dangerous Liaisons, What Lies Beneath). He even brings money to his mother and sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – The Perfect Storm, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), who he hasn’t seen for years. All the time Montana is working for Lopez he is plotting of ways of becoming a Cartel boss

Special Features:

-Digital Copy

-Ultraviolet Copy

Original documentary about the making of “Scaface” featuring new interviews with director Brian De Palma